Germany / Austria

Kelly needed to write her Canadian Medical Board exam so we used it as an excuse for a weekend away, outside of Ireland. After some searching, we found out that flights to Munich fit into our schedule and also that it was during Oktoberfest!

We landed in Munich, dropped the bags at the hotel and found a sunny square for lunch. Post lunch, Kelly went to study and I combined sightseeing, ski boot shopping and a run into 1 adventure.

While Kelly wrote her exam I thought I’d go for a swim and check out the Olympic Aquatics facilities used the 72 Munich games. After my swim, I headed to the special sauna area for some relaxation, German style. I walked into the sauna and was welcomed by a flurry of “nein, nein, nein’s” and quickly stepped out wondering what my taboo was. I had a waterbottle in my hand and decided that this must have been the issue. I set the waterbottle down and reentered. “nein, nein, nein” and they began pointing at my shorts. Ahhhhh, I then copped on to the fact that everyone was naked. Out, shorts off, in the birthday suit, I went in again. “Nein, nein, nein!” Jesus, what?!?! They then explained to me (in German-which I speak “nein”) that I also needed a towel to sit on. So, back out, shorts on, back to my locker, and grabbed the towel I “borrowed” from the hotel. Upon returning to the sauna a man took one look at my (hand) towel and started to chastise me about my “baby towel, a towel for babies!” He was having none of me going in with such a towel and went behind a desk to give me an adult towel. I was finally cleared by the authorities to relax….

After Kell’s exam we headed to Oktoberfest! It was a beautiful day to walk around the festival, enjoying beer and pretzels in the sunshine. Oktoberfest is crazy. A massive drunkfest that gets pretty wild when the sun goes down. The tents are full my mid afternoon but we enjoyed walking around admiring all the lederhosen and dirndls (the traditional women’s dress that pushes their boobs to the sky). All of the beer comes in a “mass” which is a full litre of delicious German brew. Mmmmmmm. We came to the conclusion that Oktoberfest is very much like the Calgary Stampede; just switch the attire, take away the rodeo, and add more beer.

Once we had our fill of Oktoberfest, we hopped on Ze Autobahn (LOVE German roads!!) and headed south to the Bavarian Alps. We stayed in a tiny village, just on the Austrian side of the border and found a great little restaurant for dinner. (Special of the day: schnitzel and dumplings mmmmmmm)

Next day after breakfast we found a nice hike that straddled the German/Austrian border that took in the fall colours. The nice thing about hiking in the Alps is that beer (and lunch) is never too far away!

An evening in the spa then we were off to the Lech Valley as we had plans to meet up with Sven Gali (aka Christophe Hummel) a German friend who lived in Canmore for a year. Since the weather didn’t cooperate fully to get a hike in, Sven went to his back-up plan to show us the sights. He took us to Neuschwanstein Castle (the inspiration behind Disney's castle), showed us the medieval city centre of Fussen, helped Kelly pick out a spatzl maker, and took us to some sweet baths to chillax.

The back door to the castle.

Christophe couldn't continue the tour without us trying some Augustinerbrau.

Eating was usually interesting but especially so in Austria. Kell was usually able to communicate her vegetarianism and would get between 1-3 options pointed out for random selection. I was left with the rest of the menu for my dice roll.

We got out for a hike on our final day, hiking toward “Petersburg”. Expecting some sort of civilization, we found a single farm house at the end of a valley. Rumor had it that we would be able to have something to eat here but it wasn’t looking like much would be on offer. We walked in to find about 15-20 people enjoying a fine home-cooked lunch (and also stocking up on the cured ham and cheese they were selling).

Petersburg

Another fine hike with fine beer!!